Pune: House sparrows take to artificial nest boxes,four years of conservation shows success

PUNE: Over 84% house

sparrows

accepted the artificial nest boxes placed for them as part of an assisted breeding programme aimed at their conservation. The move was initiated by the

Ela Foundation

and Maharashtra forest department in 2016-2017.

The ongoing conservation efforts have entered the fifth year. Ornithologist and director of Ela Foundation, Satish Pande, said 1,200 nest boxes were deployed all over the state with the participation of common public, students, NGOs, forest department staff and Ela Foundation volunteers in the first phase.

Pande said, the nest boxes — pipe-shaped, a foot-long and four inches in diameter — were placed horizontally under the roofs of houses, factories, shops and godowns, among others, barring trees.

“The nest boxes were monitored for acceptance, number of eggs (clutch size), number of chicks hatched (hatching success), number of young chicks who flew (fledging success) and the number of nest boxes that were successful (at least one young fledged). Other species accepting the nest boxes were also recorded,” Pande said.

At present students are monitoring nest boxes at Pingori, Valhe, Daundaj, Jejuri, Kolvihire, Morgao, Nira, Kodit and Saswad among other villages.

Pande said, “Adult house sparrows (male and female in a pair) and the young in the nest were ringed as part of the study to monitor future behaviour and trends. Same male and female house sparrows were seen in the same nest box in several instances. In some cases the pairs kept changing and the male or female were different, but they came to the same nest box. Some house sparrows that were ringed in 2016 are still alive. A young one that was ringed in the nest in 2016 has now started breeding in the third year after hatching.”

He said one

house sparrow

was spotted 500m from the site where it was ringed, he said.

Pande said, “Entanglement of sparrows in nesting material (thread, wool, nylon), expulsion of chicks by mynas and parakeets, spraying of

insecticide

, cats and other predators, lack of breeding sites, drinking water, and food, and young sparrows dying due to collision with fans in homes are some major threats that we have identified as part of the project.”

Non-tolerance by humans due to littering of nesting material and fecal droppings is also a worry, he added.

Researchers

Rahul Lonkar

,

Rajkumar Pawar

, M N Mahajan, Omkar Sumant, Rushikesh Sankpal, Amit Pawashe, Faiyaz Shaikh and Banda Pednekar are involved in the project


Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword.